Born To Resist

I went shopping yesterday. Usually I shop for other people, but yesterday I shopped for me. Well, me and the hubby. First I went to Berean, I got Cam a brand-spankin’ new ESV Study Bible. A really major BIBLE. It’s huge. It weighs about 30 pounds. Not that much, but close. It is a serious Bible that he could throw at people when they aren’t understanding that whole Jesus thing. I know that he likes the translation and needed a Bible so HAPPY EASTER TO CAMERON. (I got it 50% off which made it a very HOLY DEAL.)

I had a couple of Victoria’s Secret gift cards. I got a couple of lotion/body wash sets. Then I found a nighty at Target that I loved. I bought it. I did pay full price for it. That hurt a little, but I figured it was for a good cause.

Cam has been working late all week and last night he came home at a decent hour and the kids were asleep. I slipped into the shower to “freshen up” and shave my hairy legs. I locked the door with all my goodies inside the bathroom. I figured Cameron was distracted and watching TV. I don’t often lock the door to the bathroom. I really wanted to be a surprise.

I’m halfway done shaving my leg when I hear something. I turn around and Cameron is in the bathroom. CREEPER. I tell him he’s ruining my surprise. He tells me “It’s not Biblical for you to lock me out.” I raise my eyebrow. Of course he would have committed the Song of Solomon to heart. I tell him what I’m doing is different. I’m not rejecting him. I’m getting ready for him. He slips back out of the bathroom and says “NOT BIBLICAL.”

Here’s the verse Cameron has decided to bring up:

The Bride Searches for Her Beloved

She²I slept, but my heart was awake.A sound! My beloved is^(G) knocking.”Open to me, my^(H) sister, my^(I) love,
my^(J) dove, my^(K) perfect one,
for my head is wet with dew,
my^(L) locks with the drops of the night.”
^3(M) I had put off my garment;
how could I put it on?
I had^(N) bathed my feet;
how could I soil them?
⁴My beloved put his hand to the latch,
and my heart was thrilled within me.
⁵I arose to open to my beloved,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with^(O) liquid myrrh,
on the handles of the bolt.
⁶I opened to my beloved,
but my beloved had turned and gone.
My soul failed me when he^(P) spoke.^(Q) I sought him, but found him not;
^(R) I called him, but he gave no answer.

Here’s the basic idea: She’s being a turd and won’t let her husband in after a long day of work. It’s an ancient equivalent of “I have a headache.” Well, I wasn’t doing that, but Cameron decided to use the verse.

My husband is a very clever guy. He loves him some Bible verses. Here’s the best part- you know the Bible I got him? On the page where you write who it’s from and the occasion for giving a Bible, etc,  I wrote the verse 2 Timothy 3:16-17:

^16(A) All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷that^(AG) the man of God^[b]may be competent,^(AH) equipped^(AI) for every good work.

Cameron knows that includes verses in the Song of Solomon about locking your husband out. Wise man.

There is a person that Cam and I know that I’m always frustrated with. This person assumes they know everything about dating and that the church and every pastor has it wrong. This is because this person is still single. I believe this person has a very selfish perspective on dating and marriage. This person has also borrowed some extreme “worldly” ideas about how to date and meet the opposite sex and “Christianized” them. Which to me is really, really cheesy. It’s sort of like those shirts or bumper stickers in a Christian bookstore that just stole a logo from a real company like Coke or MySpace and made it a terrible Christian saying that sort of rhymes.

It was refreshing to read this article from Relevant Magazine about dating. If you are a Christian you are called to a higher standard of living, in everything you do. Everything in your life should be about Christ first, then others. If you are a single Christian I think that you should be focused on you and Jesus, then we’ll see about the rest. Marriage is not for happiness, it’s for holiness.

Enjoy the read.

Since Valentine’s Day is this weekend most stores are having sales on “Business Time” items. I just wanted to let you know that I got two packs of Trojan condoms at Walgreens, BOGO* 1/2 off, then I had two $2.00 Trojan coupons (it was odd to see condom coupons in the paper…), I got two packs of condoms for $14.00 (one pack is usually $14.00 by itself)! I had Register Rewards to use so it was actually FREE!

So, if you are in need of such items because you want to renact your favorite scene from Song of Solomon this weekend,you can get them cheap at Walgreens!

*BOGO=”Buy One, Get One ____”

P.S. If you don’t know what business time means, you need to meet my two best friends from New Zealand, Bret & Jemaine.

I just received a free “Love Letter Kit” from thinkmarriage.org.

It’s simple, it’s just a few easy steps and tips to write a love note to your spouse, two pieces of paper and two envelopes.

They are giving away 400 of these everyday from February 7-14. I think it’s a very simple and sweet way to say I love you. Cameron and I use to be champions of note writing. Especially when I was in Bible College (what else do you think I was doing during my 3 hour Genesis class?). This is a good way to get us back there.

Do Not Awaken Love from The Hub on Vimeo.

Cameron and I are heading down to LA on the 12th to have a romantic weekend together. We’re also going to the Song of Solomon conference. I’m pretty stoked. Here’s a little video.

Enjoy kids.

Last night Cameron and I headed out to my friend Joanna’s wedding. I’ve known Joanna since we were in middle school (I think!). Her wedding was full of joy, laughter and Jesus. I like when weddings are fun and not formal. I like when all of your friends are into and are blessed by you being married. Quick note: Cameron is usually the odd man out with his beard and tattoo- not last night. He blended right in. More beards than I could count and his one tattoo seemed odd compared to the neck pieces and full sleeves! We sat with fantastic people that I love. After the ceremony I got to see even more old friends. Sometimes I miss Yucaipa more than I know.

What I really took away from this wedding was what the Pastor said about “covenant”. He said that marriage was a covenant and that our society doesn’t even really know what that means anymore, that it’s an antique word. He mentioned that none of us are committed to much of anything these days, our jobs, our employers, our spouses, etc. Covenant though, is God’s idea and that God has done great things simply because of covenant. Marriage is a covenant not only between husband and wife, but Jesus. It’s a sacred union. It’s by God’s design a representation of Jesus and the church. Amen.

So often marriage is belittled in our society. No one really understands why you get married. *HINT: It’s not just for the big expensive wedding* I remember being asked over and over again when I was engaged to Cameron “Why are you getting married so young?” “Are you sure you want to get married?” “Don’t you want to go out and have fun first?” I never heard them asking my co-workers : “Are you sure you want to go out drinking tonight?” “Are you really OK with just living with your boyfriend?” “Don’t you want to just get married instead of one night stands?” I always thought it was pretty brazen of people that I didn’t know to comment on my choice of marriage.  Our cavalier attitude towards marriage isn’t becoming of us as a society. Marriage, when done right, is a beautiful and miraculous thing. It’s not “just a piece of paper”, but it’s a covenant between two people to be servants to one another and represent the love of Christ to each other. I don’t know of anything the world needs more than people humbling themselves and loving another person more than themselves.

Last night we sat with friends who have been married for 33 years, 25 years, 27 years and 30 years. These aren’t perfect people who happened to find each other, but these are people that have worked and struggled and forged a bond in marriage. I love that. I can only hope that more of us continue to find out that it’s not just about us, but about a sacrificial love that puts your spouse first. Don’t get married thinking that it’s going to make you happy. Marriage is a covenant. Marriage is hard. Marriage is work. Marriage is worth it.

I cannot say enough about this sermon series from Mars Hill Church in Seattle. I recommend it to EVERYONE. Are you single? Are you married? Are you dating a loser? Are you dating the one? Are you engaged? Do you have kids? Are you trying to make some kids?

THEN YES! This is for you.

I think Cameron’s review of this series sums it up: “I feel like I got punched in the gut.”

We’ve been married for 4 years and quite frankly were falling into the marriage rut. It’s easy to be complacent and live in the same house with someone you use to know. Cameron found this sermon series and became a different man for it. I listened to it and found new meaning and purpose as a wife.

Please, take a little time for your husband or wife, and listen. You’ll thank me later.

Before I married Cameron I read many, many books on the subject of being a good wife. I read about sex (Sheet Music), I read about having a servant’s heart. I was not going to be caught off-guard by marriage! We did Pre-Marital counseling together early on Monday mornings. I always felt like some of our most honest chats came about from topics that were covered there. I had my bases covered, believe me.

Somewhere along the line, I dropped the ball. I figured I had studied enough and now I was in the trenches and didn’t need a book to guide me along. Sure, I enjoy the yearly sermon series on marriage and I listened to radio programs about it. I knew my husband. I’m good to go. I had my bases covered: we were doing well as parents, going to small group, volunteering at church, etc.

Cameron and I were still getting pretty good at getting at each other’s throats and not being as touchy-feely as we once had. I was feeling pretty average in the looks department and it showed. Secret: I didn’t own a hairbrush for about a month. I was looking really good.

A couple of weeks ago I came home from staying at my parent’s house while Cameron was getting work done on a freelance website. I was greeted, very suspiciously might I add, by a beaming husband who said “Hello beautiful wife, I’ve missed you!” I started accounting for all the pets because I was assuming he had finally snapped and taken at least one cat to the pound. There were no strings attached to this wonderful greeting. The next morning I woke up to coffee made and a bouquet of roses from our yard with a note that read: “I love you, Love.” Who is this man and what has he done with my over-worked husband? That day was a tough and long Mom day. Those roses kept me going the whole day. I found my own beauty in that gift.

Later that day I found out what was going on. Cameron had discovered Pastor Mark Driscoll’s sermon series “The Peasant Princess”.  It’s a verse by verse walk-through on the Song of Solomon. Pastor Driscoll does not pull punches and he emphasizes God’s intentions for marriages (and for sex, it’s pretty frank and steamy, but only in an appropriate for married couples way). If you are lucky enough to know my husband, you know that this is right up his alley. Cameron is a no-nonsense man and doesn’t enjoy beating around the bush when it comes to important topics. Basically, Cameron enjoyed getting punched in the gut while listening to this series. I was impressed. I started listening online and it has changed our marriage. We’ve applied a new attitude towards each other: servanthood.  Yielding first to Christ and then to each other. It’s so easy going into a marriage with good intentions… but we all know where those lead. I am once again enjoying my husband, being glad that he’s been put in my life and not taking his leadership for granted.

I’ve started “gussying” myself up. First step: I bought a hair brush last week. Right on. I got my eye brows waxed. I am no longer the Wolfman.  I do my hair everyday. I’m not in my “Mom” clothes when he gets home. I have every reason to make myself more desirable for this man. He has taken God’s words about a man providing for his family and made good on them. He stays up late, he works two full time jobs (Yes, freelance is full time even if it’s from home) and he makes sure we’re all cared for (1 Timothy 5:8).

I have been hit hard by this sermon series, realizing how out of line I was in not cherishing my husband. I also enjoyed how much Pastor Driscoll encourages men to be men. Boys are all over their girlfriends, men keep their hands to themselves until they are married. I loved this line especially: There are a lot of boys who can shave. Just because you can shave or be sexual doesn’t mean you are a man. Men don’t look at pornography and men don’t go to strip clubs. Boys do. Pastor Driscoll is brazen to say all of these things in a world where even the church doesn’t hold their men (or women) accountable for their sex lives. We’ve let that one slide. At the same time we wonder why marriages fall apart, males stay stupid and immature for so long and women equate beauty with sexuality.

I’m very gung-ho about all of my friends listening to this series. Especially the married ones or the ones about to be married.

In honor of Thanksgiving this week, I will say this: I am so thankful for my husband. He has taken the high road and is becoming the man God wants him to be. He is a generous, loving, fun, hard-working and handsome man. He loves his children and would give them the moon if he could.

I am learning more and more everyday what “I am my beloved’s and he is mine” entails.

www.peasantprincess.com

P.S. I was cleaning out my jewelery box the other day (it doesn’t contain much as you would guess), but I found my promise ring that I use to wear. Not my True Love Waits ring, but my Promise ring from Cameron (he has a matching one). It’s a sterling silver basic little ring. I decided to start wearing it on my right hand ring finger. It’s a simple reminder to always treat my husband the way I treated him in the beginning: like a gift.

I’m back in the real world after a weekend of basking in the glory of Disneyland Resort. We are always at Disneyland, but this weekend was special. Cameron and I took advantage of a discount for Annual Pass holders at the Disneyland hotel. Not having a stroller or children at Disneyland was like, well, going to Disneyland for us. We got to go on a few big kid rides and enjoy the parks at a different pace. Here’s a few choice memories from our Anniversary Celebration weekend (our actual Anniversary isn’t until October 16th, but we had to get the discount this month).

We stayed at the Crowne Plaza the first night. We got in around 3 PM and hung out in our room until the sun crept down a little because it was about 100 degrees in Anaheim. Can I just say that Bell Hop service is the best? It’s worth the couple dollar tips that you give. We had help with everything! Ahh…

We took the shuttle from the Hotel over to the parks. It was the first night of Halloweentime at the parks. If you haven’t done Disneyland at Halloween, you’re missing out. It’s beautiful! Main Street is decorated with all sorts of pumpkins, swags of orange fabric and at the plaza, a HUGE Mickey Mouse shaped Pumpkin. The Haunted Mansion is overlayed to be Nightmare Before Christmas and this year for the first time Space Mountain is themed as well. It’s called Ghost Galaxy… we’ll get to that in a bit.

We wanted to eat at Woody’s Round-Up in Big Thunder Ranch. We’ve looked at it longingly for awhile. It’s an all-you-can-eat family style dinner. There’s a show to watch, too. It was decked out in vintage Halloween decor and beautiful fall leaves. It was really, really good. Sometimes I get disappointed in Disney food quality (especially desserts), but not this! They even served our drinks in canning jars, which is something I love! I grew up drinking ice tea out of Ball jars.

We were a bit taken aback by the crowding. I think it was mostly AP holders who were there for the first Halloweentime fireworks show. We decided to head over to Space Mountain to see what the wait time would be. It was 80 minutes! We decided to stick it out and enjoy the time together. Besides, they have a great show on the outside of the mountain. There are spooky sound effects, and a light show. I don’t have great pictures of it, but I’ll direct you over to Miceage.com to see great pics of Space Mountain. After waiting in line behind two siblings who punched and shoved each other the whole way through the line, we finally got to the front of the line and the front of the car! Woohoo! It was pretty spooky for Disney and it was worth the wait, I think. I think the story was well told and perfectly meshed with Space Mountain. It was pretty cool.

When we finally came out of the ride it was 15 minutes until the new fire works display. We mushed into the crowd on Main Street and waited… we enjoyed it! It’s very heavily themed with Nightmare Before Christmas. I can’t believe how much of that stuff is floating around in Disneyland Merchandise stores! Tim Burton is laughing all the way to the bank.

We went back to our Hotel room and watched a movie that Cam rented on his computer. He hooked it up to the TV. No $15.00 rented movies from the hotel for us, thank you.

The next morning we lounged in bed until about 9:30 and enjoyed every second of it. We packed up and headed over to the Garden Walk next to Disneyland. We ate lunch there and went to Lush (not a wine store, but a soap store). Next stop: DISNEYLAND HOTEL! Cameron has never stayed at the resort before and I’ve not been since I was 12. My family stayed in the Oriental Gardens which were demolished to make room for Downtown Disney.  We arrived a little early for check-in, but were welcomed and given keys right away. (They sent us a text with our room number when it was ready.) The cast member that helped us, Jeremiah was awesome! He goofed around with us, asked us if we had seen the Halloween fireworks, gave us some tips for a better stay. He even gave us Anniversary buttons and an autographed 8×10 of Mickey and Minnie. I know that seems small, but the gesture was huge. Disney hospitality is incredible. I know why people pay the big bucks to stay there. It’s one thing to experience this as a kid, but I have a whole new appreciation for it now that I’m the grown up paying for the room. While waiting for our room we wandered the grounds. We went back to Horse Shoe falls and the Koi Pond. We meandered thru Neverland pool and Cameron tried to get me to pay $5 to play with the motorized Jungle Cruies boats. We found a wonderful shady spot and had lattes from the coffee shop (iced of course!) and people watched. Everywhere we went we were greeted with a “Congratulations!” or “Happy Anniversary!” because we had on our buttons. Another wonderful little detail that only Disney gives you.

We got into our room right at 3 PM. Cam and I couldn’t believe the view we had! We could see right into Downtown Disney! I’ve hoped for a long time that I could watch the fireworks from Disneyland Hotel in one of those rooms and now we had the chance! I quickly snapped pictures of our pristine room’s details and loved every second of it! From the wallpaper, to the headboards to the shampoo bottles everything was Disney!

We rested and then headed out to Downtown Disney for a stroll. We enjoyed not having a stroller to maneuver around and simply browsed.  We watched rockabilly band play and a cute elderly couple dance to the music. Just soaking up the ambiance…

We ate a Hook’s Pointe in the hotel. I had scallops… yum. Cameron couldn’t wait to go swimming in the Neverland themed pool. It is really, really rad. I loved Peter Pan as a kid (there’s a reason Josiah was Peter Pan for his first Halloween) and would have passed out from excitement from seeing this pool! We swam for awhile and then sat in the jacuzzi. So nice… it did feel a little weird not to have kids, everyone else did!

Back to our room for fireworks! There’s even a channel on TV that plays the Halloween Scream Fireworks music. During the rest of the day it plays what you would hear on Main Street. We stood on our balcony and watched the whole show… it was way too perfect and romantic!!

When we checked in we had been told about Magic Mornings. If you stay at the resort, you get into Disneyland a whole hour early. We woke up at 6 and marched through a dead Downtown Disney to the gates. We were among the first fifty people into the park! I’ve never been to Disneyland for the opening and this was special. The first family in the park does a count down and officially starts the day.

They only open up Main Street and Fantasyland for the Magical Mornings, but it was still awesome. We moved at a Snail’s Pace down Main Street and enjoyed the empty sidewalks and quiet atmosphere. We got coffee and hot chocolate and were on our way into the castle. We actually got our picture taken outside the castle which is something we’ve not done since we were dating. We rode some dark rides in Fantasyland, went on the Matterhorn (where I kept flying out of my seat. It’s hard to be short on rollercoasters), and rode King Arthur’s Carousel.

We wanted to get the most out of our Hotel room, and we left the park via Monorail (the new one which I hadn’t been on yet!) and had breakfast in our room. We ate right at the window and relaxed. Once again, AWESOME Disney food! We lounged around until 10:45 and then checked out.  They stored our luggage for the day and we were able to keep our car parked in the Hotel Parking lot, which is really nice!

We snuck over to California Adventure through the Park Entrance in the Grand Californian. We went on Tower of Terror, which Cameron hates… and then did the tortilla tour. But just to get the free tortilla. We went back to Disneyland to see if Indiana Jones was working. Sadly, it wasn’t. So we bounced back over to Main Street to see if we could ride the Lilly Belle. We were just in time! We had to wait about 15 minutes and another couple also celebrating their anniversary joined us! It was great. We were ushered past the “regular” passengers through the front doors of the Main Street Station and go onto the Lilly Belle.

If you don’t know what the heck the Lilly Belle is, it’s the formal car that Walt and Lillian Disney used. It’s also used for VIPs in the park. It’s got historical Disney items in it like Lillian’s smoking jacket, framed pictures, a tapestry that Lillian made, and original furniture.It also has the same carpet in it that’s in Walt’s apartment above the fire station on Main Street. It has the original “Hidden Mickeys” on it. After the tour we were given Lilly Belle tickets which are great free souvenirs.

We ate our sandwiches at the Disneyland hotel and just enjoyed our final moments at DLR in the shade. Goofy came by, kids played and we just relaxed. It had been the perfect weekend. Everything was just right. ♥